Kirk Gallaway

Yeah, Mike but guess what? No politician cares to do that. There's absolutely no pressure to. Gain 1% from the conspiracy crowd to upset 10% of the law and order crowd? It's that simple, it's not in the top 40 of any politician priorities. It's not even as politically actionable as the "Q" in the LGBTQ. I don't particularly like her, and she hasn't done much to make her stand out. But that's kind of the job.! Biden's going on with George Stephanopoulos this Friday, maybe to watch on Sunday. Interesting, Steve Banon curses that Trump accepted an early debate, because now they could switch candidates. I thought it was another horrible miscalculation by Biden, (as well as turning the mics off.) that I was sorry to see, but I'm now grateful for. Was it more Hubris? This left 7 weeks before the convention! Imagine Biden failing so miserably in October! We'd probably be dead!

Again Cliff, yes the stakes are high! Does that make it inevitable that the American voter will wake up to that fact? it's not that I don't see some reason for staying put and praying Biden doesn't look worse. You can continue doing what you're doing which is taking a page from George Bush Sr's playbook. 1. Stay the course!!! 2. A thousand points of light! 😀😃😄😗 of course a big question is who wouldl replace Biden? You can make an argument that at least the public is familiar with Joe. Will it take time for the voter to warm up and get to know the new candidate? But picking candidates at the convention was what was done for the entire U.S. history of 190 years! People really didn't know JFK. When JFK won the Democrat nomination, there was only 14 state primaries! Actually with 8 years of exposure, almost everybody in the U.S. would like the idea of a fresh candidate and a shorter campaign. And Trump is a very weak opponent. Particularly with younger people, Both candidates are very weak. He took a thousand points of light! And then he said "what's missing?" People let me tell you what he did! Sorry pre Beatle!

Well as I recall, you predicted something like 340 electoral votes for Biden and I had 291. I ended up missing one state out of 50, that was Georgia. Oh! here it is from the 56 year thread. Page 215 Nov. 2nd, 2020! Cliff: Final Prediction Biden 340 electoral votes (Hillary states plus Florida, Georgia, N. Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Neb - 1) 85,000,000 popular votes Trump 198 75,000,000 And here's my final prediction, Nov. 2nd, Page 216 I think Michigan is Biden. The entire rust belt outside of Ohio as well. Yes Arizona is Biden, as Cliff said. I don't trust the South or any of the State governments, outside of possibly Florida. But Florida has always teased and failed. Once burned, twice shy. Biden 291, Trump 247, if Biden can get Florida Biden 320, Trump 218 Biden wins by 7-8 million. 2.5 times HC's lead in 2016. Wow!, I didn't realize I got it exactly right, 7-8 million! uhhhh feeling lucky Cliff? If it comes down to voting for Biden, I will. But you guys better start getting serious. Biden is currently teetering! This isn't a joke!

Not if Biden can't win. This ups the stakes, it's true.. Cliff, what I've found for years now, is a supremely confident group here thinking Biden will win. Here's the reality. -Biden will not take any states away from Trump in 2020! -But Trump will take from Biden! - If the election is held today. If he loses any one of the 3 states Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, Biden loses the election! -In all these 3 states, they are currently too close to call, with Trump with a slight edge in 2 of them! - It's going to probably be the closest election in U.S. history. The most electoral votes Biden could possibly get I think would be 276-262! -Another words , Biden was not a shoo-in, even before his terrible performance! You can adopt the "unforced error "attitude that the American people will finally see Trump self destruct, or maybe a new scandal will do him in, which could happen, but personally, I don't want to depend on that!

Here's my argument why I believe Joe should retire and the Dem's nominate someone else. We should know how stiff the resistance is when polls come over this week. Unless he slides precipitously, which I doubt because the undecided are such a small % of the overall number of voters. There's too much inertia standing in the way of switching candidates. It's the most powerful office in the world, and you could always see the aging in anyone who was in the office. However the aging of Biden is like no other. But that's because we have never elected a President who was this old. My dad looked better at 92, but he lived to be 101. I don't think Joe will make it to his 90's, but I don't know. Rigby will always make the argument that U.S. style of trying to make the world safe for Capitalism wasn't near as profitable as British Colonialism, ( that is, coming in and ravaging a horribly undeveloped country of their resources), and he's probably right. Paul, tell your mother Eleanore, I think she's Sweleanore!

Nice and concise.

Why is the standard answer always conspiracy when the most logical answer is just garden variety senility. W's had extensive career experience with this and can give an extensive unofficial diagnosis but officially all we are doing is speculating. I've had a total of 30 years seeing dementia in my parents and Grandparents. My Dad looked better at 95 then Biden looked in the debate at 81. Of course, my Dad lived to be 101. My guess, from seeing the difference in Joe's performances in 2020 is that Joe probably won't make it to 90, but I don't know. I do recall Carter looking better in 2005 and he's not looking well, but would be 100 in October.

Matt, what i said in my first sentence is, it was never hidden! W., Doug and I gave you these observations a year ago. Obviously we were praying we would end up being wrong and this wouldn't happen. If you didn't see it, you certainly weren't going to hear about it from his aides!

I don't buy that he was drugged! Almost all the film of Biden over the last year lead up to this result! Staring vacantly, looking down, and too much time spent with his mouth open and not talking! That's huge! I always wondered why none of his aides ever confronted him about this. If they were clueless, they at least could have hired a media consultant! I was wondering if it was because they saw that he was very lucid in his dealings with them, and could easily overcome the low expectations that people were drawing from his appearance. To me his first excuse for his poor performance was so Trumpian, blaming the other guy. Saying he was so astonished at Trump's lies it froze him! He knew from his previous debates that Trump is a pathological liar, and he handled it well before! Biden asked for the format, and it only made Trump look more self disciplined, and Biden unable to fend off Trump lies as they happened. A bad calculation! We should know how stiff the resistance is when polls come out this week. Unless he slides precipitously, which I doubt because the undecided are such a small % of the overall number of voters. There's too much inertia standing in the way of switching candidates.

I've heard that Doug. I've heard it was Boris Johnson who came in and ruined the negotiation. Now was he under authority as if it was Joe Biden? Was this the unofficial NATO position? The former US official also claimed that White House believed Putin was “salivating” at the prospect of peace. "Salivating"? Yeah nice evenly balanced quote! Of course Biden and Nato were first prepared to offer Zelensky asylum, but he said he "doesn't need assylum, he needs guns" or something to that effect. I understood in 2011 , in polling ,it was pretty much split down the middle whether Ukraine wanted admission to Nato. And after the 2014 revolution, it was solidly for Nato admission. It seems like the article ends up hedging a little whether Russia had the right to iater invade and as a guarantor, veto power over outside intervention? That would seem like deal breaker! Just my take. But obviously if Ukraine decided it was in it's best interests to eventually accept a joint proposal, this whole war could have been avoided, or at least put off.

But Biden started and his start was horrific! In 2020, i was worried before the debates but he had composure even though Trump was constantly interrupting him trying to get him to stutter. Then he had the abortion issue, the real softball where he could make points and he says some good stuff and then segues into the Venezuelan immigrant killing that American and actually acknowledges that Trump was at her funeral! WTF! Yes of course, Biden picked the format. The camera often was split. And Biden should have shaken his head or managed a number of different visual responses every time Trump lied. Instead he looked down would not let you even see his eyes and played into looking like a disengaged old man. Just the opposite of what he should have been trying to do! He did do that a few times. But in that format, sometimes it was too late. and with his mic off, He had to at least shake his head and deal with Trump lies the only timely way he could.

Thank you for the summary. Well of course, you're an American. I'd like to change everything, the electoral system, Scotus, Citizens United, money out of politics, but most Americans people don't vote in their interests. Are the French any more likely to vote in their interests? I used to think the typical European was much more informed and voted more in their interests than Americans. I came in from Barcelona, rented a car in Montpelier, from there I went to Avignon, Guordes, those beautiful canyons I forget the name of, Nice, Cassis, San Tropez, Cannes and left off the car at the Eastern border.

Yeah, "one way or another, this darkness has got to give!" Just curious as to your response. So I hear that Macron shouldn't have called for those elections and the right wing have made big gains? What are your thoughts ?

Bill are you an American living in France or are you French? I spent over a couple of months in Southern Europe a couple of years ago. I had a blast! Including Southern France! Yes, that's a nice spirited comeback speech. It was read from a teleprompter. If you want to feel even better and gain some more confidence, speed Biden up to 1.25. That might have been the speed of his delivery in 2020I It's good that all the Democrats are not in denial about the performance. But as far as the question of Biden hubris. I'd like to ask him "what were you thinking.? and see what his response would be. I think it would be telling!

Yes, I do think there is a serious disconnect in Biden. And his unawareness of how poorly he came off could end up so disheartening. His aides should probably have been aware. He was incapable of any real push back. He had both the Social security/taxation and the justice to blacks question and he completed his response and twice was reminded he could fill in a lot more time. The future looks horrid and the stakes are too high. I never felt I had a stake in the process until I was 40 and Bill Clinton got elected. Of course, with the old age issue the younger voter is just reminded about how disenfranchised they feel.